The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared war on the corona virus also at the digital level. On March 28, the organization joined forces with several companies that already use the blockchain technology to develop a platform to collect and share data to fight the virus. Among them are IT groups such as IBM, Oracle, Microsoft and the blockchain company Hacera. In future, regional data on the spread of the pandemic will be summarised and evaluated on the “MiPasa” platform. The information will be exchanged between government agencies, health authorities, but also individuals. The Blockchain provides significant advantages: At the same time, the data can be transmitted and stored securely and always up-to-date and verifiable.

One of the pioneers in this field is the IT group IBM, which was once the largest manufacturer of personal computers, but has specialized in software, big data analysis and now blockchain technologies for many years. With its blockchain platform IBM Food Trust, retailers can trace the origin and whereabouts of individual goods, such as fresh fish or vegetables, back to the manufacturer in virtually real-time. What used to take days or weeks of research can now be retrieved in seconds. If you are intere

Customers of the IBM platform include large retail chains such as the French company Carrefour. By 2022, it wants to enable the traceability of hundreds of fish products in all 12,000 stores. Customers will then be able to scan a QR code on the packaging and receive all information about the origin of a product.

By using the blockchain, however, the companies are by no means only concerned with strengthening consumer confidence and guaranteeing the freshness of fish. The example of the luxury goods group LVMH shows this. With the technology companies Consensys and Microsoft, the French have created an application based on Blockchain that can be used to verify luxury goods. This means that the trade with cheap copies is massively hindered – and that one’s own brand can be strengthened and revenues tend to increase.

The market for blockchain applications will grow even faster, also due to corona expansion. Experts estimate that the volume will grow from $1.5 billion in 2018 to $23.3 billion in 2023. In the view of Gartner’s market researchers, the service and transport industries will benefit most from this. The blockchain already plays an important role in the financial sector. The growth drivers are: Greater efficiency, more transparency in the movement of goods and the controllability or verification of goods. Achievements that are more in demand than ever in the corona crisis.

Our Partner GIZ Blockchain Lab would like to share this call for proposals with the PositiveBlockchain network:

“GIZ is looking for a tech provider to develop a blockchain-based application for supply chain traceability in Rwanda.

Agricultural supply chains are inherently complex with often opaque product and financial flows. Profit shares along the value chain can be extremely uneven, but this information remains disguised. Especially small, local producers, who hardly earn a minimum wage, cannot gain leverage against large distributors at the other end if there is no transparency.

Our project aims to develop a blockchain-based decentralised supply chain track and trace system in order to increase the transparency of a coffee value chain in Rwanda. It will enable all actors along the supply chain to submit their data via a user interface to track production, processes, quality parameters, product and financial flows – overall reducing information asymmetries. With the help of e.g. location tags and purchase receipts, the coffee and profit shares should be traced back to the producing organisation.

The project will follow the Principles for Digital Development, in particular applying an open-source approach. We plan to make available all of the source code that will be generated as part of this assignment under an open-source license.

Manuals will also be prepared to describe the methodology, along with proposals for incorporation into the supply chains’ standard processes and mechanisms for participation.

If you or your company is interested in participating in a shortlist tender for our project please get in touch with the GIZ Blockchain Lab ([email protected]) and send a short company profile by 1/11/2019.

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